


Need

by DawnHawkes



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Smut, Smut, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 11:27:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20777801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnHawkes/pseuds/DawnHawkes
Summary: Shadowbringers Spoilers!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED THE MSQ!!The Warrior of Light and Ardbert share a moment together before the final moments of Shadowbringers.





	Need

There was so much to do, so much that needed to be done, and yet with the light pouring through her she was just so tired. Tired and scared, despite those who were willing to stand beside her. Having retired to her room to prepare after her discussion with Ardbert and Feo Ul on the balcony, she had attempted to reign in the fear, forcing herself to think about anything other than what needed to be done. To stop Emet-Selch. To save the Exarch. To not become a monster.

The warrior of light sensed him before she saw him. She had grown so accustomed to him being there, her constant companion lurking quietly in the background during her time in Norvrandt, yet she was always hyper aware when he appeared. At first, she had thought it was because of their past. Ardbert had been her enemy, the Warrior of Darkness of the Source. But in time she had learned it had nothing to do with that. He had a gravity that somehow pulled at her, and his company had become something she had come to receive comfort from.  
  
She had drifted off when she felt him, and perhaps it was that same awareness that had pulled her from sleep during the night. With the unnatural light having returned to the sky, she had been forced to draw the window closed in order to sleep before her final ordeal. Her focus when she had entered her room at the Pendants was on Ardbert, trying to think about what he'd said to her, his promise to be at her side. There was comfort in that. Perhaps it was those thoughts that had summoned him there.  
  
The warrior of light intended to turn over to see where he was, assuming he would be at his normal spot, but stopped when she felt the feeling of a hand resting on her hip. Glancing over her shoulder at him, she could see him sitting on the side of her bed, one hand resting on her, his other braced on his knee as he partially leaned forward, his head hung low.

“You're not planning to hide in here and mope now, are you?” He asked quietly, something in his voice that sounded different. He sounded sad, and she had to wonder if her own worries were seeping into her ghostly companion as well.  
  
“Ardbert?” She asked sleepily.  
  
He glanced softly at her before removing his hand from her hip, offering her an almost apologetic look. “Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. You were crying in your sleep.”  
  
She swiped a hand at her face, and found that her face was damp. It made her feel guilty, and she clamped down on the tears. “I didn't realize.”  
  
“I figured.” He murmured, reaching over to pat her softly before dropping his other arm to his knee as well. “It occurred to me. This journey's probably over for one or both of us tomorrow. It's funny, you'd think I'd be relieved, knowing the end might be in sight for me.” He lifted his hands to gaze down at his palms and offered a shrug. “Centuries as a shade, finally coming to a close. My purpose finally in front of me. I should be at peace.”  
  
There was a word that hung there. An unspoken one that somehow she could glean. There had been a couple of times where a sentence had been left unfinished and one could finish it for the other. At first she had considered it just a facet of them spending so much time together, but it seemed more that they were just of the same mind. They were so much alike; more so than either of them might care to admit. Of course, the idea had run through her mind that day as well, after their time on the balcony, when she had come back here to prepare herself for what she needed to do. Going around to ask the residents of the Crystarium about their mystery benefactor was going to take energy she didn't have. Or so she had told herself, but having Ardbert bring up what she had been considering only made her swallow a lump in her throat. There was something about the idea of losing him that hurt her deeply, like a piece of her was going to be removed. It left an ache in her chest that she didn't know how to explain. She had tried to maintain her courage in the face of it, but seeing him somber alongside her tore at her.  
  
He glanced at her, trying to read what she was thinking. He had sat there for a while, listening to her cry, wanting to say something and not knowing what. What could a shade do? Contact was all he had to offer, and so he had come to rest his hand on her hip. Possibly an indelicate gesture in the grand scheme, but he was running on instinct. As she shifted from her spot on the bed up to his side, he gave her his undivided attention, his expression reflecting the unspoken question on his lips.  
  
_What was she going to do?_

The warrior light carefully eased her arms about his shoulders, too concerned with hurting him to apply full pressure at first. His blue eyes lifted to meet hers, but he didn't stop her, and so she wound him completely into her embrace, resting her cheek against his shoulder.  
  
A sharp exhale escaped him at the contact, one hand reaching up to slip into her hair. With a sound deep in his throat that he wasn't able to restrain, he turned enough to grasp her gently and eased her across his lap, wrapping the woman tightly in his arms. For her, the sensation of contact between them was slightly cool and filled almost with a feeling of static, but it wasn't unpleasant despite startling her momentarily. The contact appeared to cause him no pain at all, he sensed a mild warmth from her skin that made him swallow back tears of joy. More confident in the contact, he coaxed her side against his broad chest as he cradled her tightly to him. Moments passed with them holding each other close before he pulled back enough to look down at her, his blue eyes glistening with unshed tears.  
  
Ardbert leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers, his arms becoming tight around her again as if he all but refused to let her go.  
  
“I...” She said, choking back her own tears. She lifted a hand to trace his cheek, watching him as he closed his eyes and pressed his skin into her palm, marveling at the contact. They both knew there may be no time for this later. No time for hugs, for goodbyes. Either of them could be gone tomorrow; possibly both of them.  
  
She had come to mean so much to him that the idea of letting her go hurt him. He wanted her to know how he felt, and the time was now, yet he couldn't find the words. The contact at his cheek as she caressed him was faintly warm. He could feel her; truly feel her. It felt like a gift and a punishment at the same time. All of these years spent wandering, unable to interact with the world around him, only for there to be a possibility he might lose her. He turned his head to kiss the skin of her palm, basking in what little of her touch he could sense. He wanted more; so much more than she might be willing to give. He needed this; needed her. He wanted to ask her, but the words were thick in his throat. All that would emerge was something kin to a whimper as he held her close and placed the kiss upon her palm, then her forehead, then her eyelids. He moved the hand that had been cupping her head into the crook of his neck, easing back enough to look at her again as he traced a knuckle along the side of her face. As the woman in his arms gazed back up at him, her own eyes mirrored his pain, and it ripped the last of his resistance to shreds. Dipping his head low, he took the risk and captured her lips softly.  
  
She hadn't been expecting the feeling of his lips on hers, the sensation filled with the same cool, charged energy as his touch. A soft sound escaped her, part whimper and part moan, and she reached to tangle her fingers into his hair as she strained upward to return the action. She felt his breath catch as their lips paused and then met again, as if testing how far the other intended to go. She shivered as his fingers slipped into her hair and the kiss between them deepened, both panting quietly. He broke the kiss to nuzzle the side of her face and whisper her name huskily in her ear.  
  
“Please.” The word was softly spoken and yet was such a desperate plea.   
  
She could hear the need in his voice, her heart thudding in her chest as she realized it how much his feelings mirrored her own. Easing back to look into those captivating blue eyes, she swallowed softly and uttered a quiet “Yes”.

A faint shudder ran up along his spine, his heart hammering in his chest as he leaned in to capture her mouth again, letting go of all of what he'd been holding back. His hands moved over her body slowly, soaking in the feel of her and memorizing every inch of her that he could in her smallclothes. He moved his mouth to her throat and listened to the subtle sounds she made as his lips and teeth and tongue explored her sensitive flesh. Every sound that emerged pushed him further over the brink into madness. Years of need; longing for another's touch; in every caress.  
  
Quietly, she chanted his name like a litany. Her hands ghosted over his armor, wanting to explore his chest, back, shoulders, “Y-you're overdressed.”   
  
The words came out almost a whine, and it pulled a soft laugh from him as he easily cast it away with barely a thought. A shuddering moan escaped him as her warm palms and fingertips moved along his skin. Her touch was faint, but still there, and more than he could have asked for. Every fiber in his being screamed to have her, but he clung to what little control he had left, determined to make the moment last. Moving her carefully back against the mattress, he settled himself between her thighs, his mouth descending on hers again like a man starving, his hands searching for spots on her body where he elicited the best reactions.  
  
The peaks of her breasts through the fabric, the spot on her back just above her hip, the inside of her thigh. He found all of them. The warrior stroked them with his fingers, tasted them with his tongue, each bit of contact evoking sounds from her lips. Heat pooled low in her belly, her entire body trembling with want as he continued to experiment. To her credit, she had not just lay there. She had allowed her hands to move along his skin, memorizing every scar, drawing gasps and causing him to lose focus numerous times with her own touch, but the man leaning above her definitely had the upper hand. She had been edging her palm down his torso to up the score when he beat her to it, his finger making it's first initial pass across her clit through her smallclothes. Warrior of light, slayer of primals and Light Wardens both, practically lurched off the bed.  
  
The cry she released when he'd found the bundle of nerves through her smalls brought a hint of a smile to his lips. His mouth capturing hers, he stroked at the pleasure point slowly, enjoying the sounds in her throat and the way she writhed against him. There was something powerful about having such an affect on someone usually so in control. Looking down at her, her hair fanned out against the sheets, the blush across her face, she was breathtaking. Gazing back into her eyes, filled with desire and something deeper, the knowledge of how he truly felt about her floored him. This wasn't just need, or desire. He had always been drawn to her, even when they had been on opposing sides. There had always been something about her that called to him, as if a part of him was missing.  
  
_I love her._  
  
The look in his eyes shook her to her very core even as his touch wound her tighter and tighter. The feel of the room had shifted suddenly, passion mixing with something else. It was hard to focus on with the tight feeling growing in her middle, her thighs trembling as he edged her higher and higher. She wanted to touch him to, but every attempt to reach and take him into her hand was met with him almost playfully batting away her hand.  
  
“Ardbert, please.”  
  
The plea in her words forced him to pause, though he did not withdraw his hand. Concern began to replace the exhilaration and desire he had been feeling, and he swallowed hard. “What is it?” He murmured softly. “Do you want to stop?”  
  
“No, I don't want to stop, you lovable idiot. I want you to make love to me. Please.”  
  
There was something glorious about the smile that broke out across his face at her words. As she looked up at him, he practically glowed as he leaned in to kiss her, and eased her out of her undergarments. Settling between her thighs, he leaned over her with one hand positioned near her head to not crush her with his weight.  
  
“You're sure?”  
  
In response, she reached to take him into her hand and gave his already hardened cock a slow stroke that made him shudder. He rested his forehead against hers and drew in a shaky breath, placing soft kisses along her face. His fingers found their way back to her folds, spreading them enough to pay the button hidden beneath more attention. Tension was coiling in him rapidly, and he soon had to stop her ministrations, knowing if she continued he wouldn't last.  
  
When he moved into position above her, he raised of her legs to rest it at his hip, stroking her flesh lovingly. They both gasped when he first began to bury himself within her, and he looked down in time to see her catch her lower lip between her teeth. Easing his way to the hilt, he rested against her carefully for a moment, leaning in to bite her lip himself. The action drew a surprising sound from her and she bucked her hips, making him exhale sharply. Taking that as the queue he needed, he rolled his hips and began to find a pace.  
  
It wasn't long before they were both caught up in the heat of it all. Each movement spiraled them both higher and higher, soft cries, heavy breaths and the sound of skin against skin making music of a different kind within the room. He could feel himself growing close, and so slid his free hand between them to stroke the bundle of nerves above where they were joined to edge her closer.

Something snapped within her as he added his touch to what he was already doing to her body, her back bowing off the bed as her entire body tightened about him, thighs trembling as she rode the wave of pleasure. His name echoing on her lips.

Blue eyes gazed down at her with love and desire as he watched her become undone beneath him, taking pleasure in the feel of her but also the expression on her face as she came apart and the sound of her voice screaming his name. Not any other name. His. His heart thudded at the knowledge. The feel of her tightening around him was more than he could handle and he only managed to thrust a few more times before he careened over the edge himself and into bliss.  
  
For moments, they lay there, limbs intertwined and bodies still joined. Kissing and holding one another. Two bodies, two hearts beating in time. For that moment, nothing else matter. They were one.


End file.
